Our False Bay garden in October

By Diana Studer
- gardening for biodiversity
in Cape Town, South Africa

White everlasting Syncarpha vestita is called Cape snow. At Cape Point when the little bushes are covered in flowers they look like sheep scattered across the landscape, especially to once were early farmers.

Cape snow Syncarpha vestita
Cape snow Syncarpha vestita


Last night there was effing and blinding on the street outside. When I went out a fluffy ginger and white cat flew home and the dikkop parent went back to collecting dinner from our front gardens. Junior contrives a baleful Don't Mess with ME glare just like his parents. Nocturnal birds with large eyes often heard calling in the night. (Now called a Spotted Thick-Knee. Sigh)

Dikkop parent and chick
Dikkop parent and chick

In our Karoo Koppie out front the Ungardener complained about the fishbowl effect of the bay window. I concede defeat from low minimalist blue Plectranthus neochilus and yellow Bulbine with spotted aloes. We've added two (bietou) Chrysanthemoides monilifera  volunteers found in our garden (after I carefully brought cuttings from Camps Bay, then Porterville!) Two more Halleria lucida as the plant at the glazed patio has already reached the top of the trellis since December.

Karoo Koppie and verge
Karoo Koppie and verge

Halleria lucida one in, two out
Halleria lucida one in, two out

Looking down then back up the sunny west side with Spring Promise and Summer Gold greening and filling in for End of Month View.

Spring Promise and Summer Gold
Spring Promise and Summer Gold

Cornish Stripe on the shadier (and windier) east side collaged to show what I want. Blue (or purple) and white flowers. Dark Prunus nigra and Japanese maple (singing nicely with the deep red Washing Pergola) or white variegated leaves.

Cornish Stripe
Cornish Stripe

Tiny blue flowers and feathery leaves, from an earlier gardener, perhaps in with the poppy seed is Gilia capitata from California. Iceberg roses blooming for picking again. Deep yellow Hibiscus. Maltese Cross or Jacobean lily, Sprekelia formosissima comes from Mexico via a Porterville neighbour. Tuberous begonia with coral weird flowers. And tomatoes - the volunteer is NOT cherry but growing large!

Foreign flowers in October Blue one at the bottom is Gilia
Foreign flowers in October
Blue one at the bottom is Gilia

South African flowers for Wildflower Wednesday. Butterfly leaves on Bauhinia. Delicate succulent pelargonium. Blue Lobelia in the potted roses. Septemberbossie. Protea scolymocephala. Pink Pelargonium which came with the garden. Burchellia bubalina planted for the sunbirds. Cotyledon orbiculata with reindeer antler leaves. Magenta Pelargonium another gift from the garden.

South African flowers in October
South African flowers in October

The yellow flowers are the bug's favourite. A bee with her saddlebags SO laden with pollen from gousblom it's amazing she can still get airborne! Monkey beetles in the Hypoxis. Yellow crab or flower spider and green shield bug are both carefully camouflaged. One to eat, and the other to avoid being eaten. We garden for biodiversity on False Bay.

Bee, shield bug, monkey beetles, crab spider
Bee, shield bug
monkey beetles, crab spider

Top 2 are his pictures as we drove home one day. We stopped to watch the trek fishermen bringing in the catch. Bottom 2 are mine as we walked along our local beach. Our False Bay.

False Bay
False Bay

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Comments

  1. I'm aware I'll never experience the amazement of where you live... this saddens me. Anyway it's good to see parts of your garden around your home . Love to see more at home .

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  2. So nice to see Spring flowers as we head into Winter here in the USA.
    Have a wonderful day!
    Lea

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  3. That Dikkop chick is so cute. No I wouldn't mess with him, or his parent.
    I also have a maple that has coppery leaves in Spring as well as autumn. Double bonus!

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  4. Such exotica! I only recognise a few of these flowers but it is a delight to enjoy them in your garden. My own Acers have just dropped their leaves so I must wait until spring to enjoy them again.

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  5. Tomatoes! Believe it or not, I still have several on my vines at the end of October--very unusual for my northern garden! Must be the effect of El Nino? Your wildflowers amaze me! I will scroll back up for a closer, longer view. Happy Wildflower Wednesday and happy spring to you!

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  6. Speechless with envy! How old is your garden - seems like ten minutes ago you moved!

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    1. We've been here almost a year, but we inherited shrubs and trees with the 25 year old house.

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  7. Good to know that the Dikkop juvenile can hold his own, even if it requires help from mom. What a stunning bird. I remember seeing one like him along the Linyanti River in that reminded me of Jeeves, the butler..such were his long legs and his careful demeanor. The shot of the blue boat on the shore is a beauty! You have a gorgeous coast. Our Oregon coast is wild, but more dangerous with rocks and fallen trees that wash up occasionally. Your coast line looks gentle and inviting for swimming.

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    1. The Cape Peninsula has a gracious mix of proper white sandy beaches (a choice of warm or cold water depending on which coast you choose), and scenic drives along rocky shores (Chapman's Peak Drive or Cape Point).

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  8. You have such beautiful flowers, some I recognise as plants that we have indoors here, but a lot were new to me.
    Our Acers are changing colours now, a couple more weeks and we should have the wonderful colours they bring to the garden.

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  9. Ah, Triel is called Dikkop! The name is perfect for this bird.
    I have only seen it once on Majorca. Beautiful birds, how remarkable to have tem in the garden!

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  10. I enjoyed looking at all the lovely wildflowers, some are similar to those in Australia, but I have never seen Cape snow (when I lived in Cape Town I was too young to pay attention to such things! I love the beautiful hibiscus ..it is too cold for them where I live here in Canberra. The most amazing photo was the bee with saddlebags of pollen...it must have taken some patience to get that shot! Congratulations. This is my second attempt at commenting.... hopefully I get it right this time!

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  11. always so much to see and appreciate in your posts Diana - very taken with Cape snow & Maltese Cross or Jacobean lily, Sprekelia formosissima and of course the baleful (gorgeous word) Dikkop

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  12. How delightfully exotic everything there looks to my eye. Cape Snow is so dramatic - do the blooms last long? And that Dikkop! Such a churlish one. Your support of biodiversity pays lovely dividends.

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    1. those buds have been tightly furled for a while, and the blooms will last once open.

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  13. I'm amazed at how established your garden is already looking in such a short time. I always love seeing all your colorful native flowers. -Jean

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    1. Only know do I understand what I read when young, a garden needs established trees. Grateful for the carob, two Coprosma, a fiddlewood.

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  14. I love that shot of the cape snow and your False Bay! Lovely to catch up with where you are now. Thanks for the intriguing story re Jersey lilies you left over at mine. My research so far shows the shipwreck might have had nerines rather than amaryilllis... so which flower is the true Jersey lily I wonder? I need to delve deeper :)

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  15. The Dikkop chick is well camouflaged. I had to look twice to find him! the image of the fishermen is lovely, including the blue boat with a red bottom; it looks like a sleigh!

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  16. I enjoyed those cool looking birds and your lovely Wildflower Wednesday blooms. What a blessing to live near that bay!

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  17. I love your local beach, Diana. It was very interesting seeing the insects camouflaged on the yellow flowers. You must have good soil in your garden, things are growing so fast.

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    1. Sandy. Builder's rubble. Some added compost from the previous gardener.

      I mulch a lot and try to choose plants which will be happy here.

      Moist sea breezes are a huge bonus!

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  18. Your Cape Peninsula is so beautiful, Diana. Stunning photographs of your October blooms. My favorite collage is of the South Africa native flowers. P. x

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  19. It is amazing how fast everything grows in your garden!

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    1. It is rewarding, but, ever so slightly, alarming too!

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  20. What a delight to see your garden grow...loving the look of the East side with the pergola....I have that same begonia still blooming indoors now....love that beach!

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